Few moments in American democracy loom as large as the January 6 riot, a chapter that many compare to the burning of the Capitol during the War of 1814. In one of his first acts after taking the oath for a second time, Donald Trump granted pardons or commuted sentences for more than 1,500 individuals convicted for the January 6 attack on the Capitol. Those who clashed with police, injuring officers with sticks, sprays, or pistols, and those hit with longer terms for conspiring to sedition—effectively plotting to overturn the government by force—were included. He described them as patriots and spoke of those detained as hostages, arguing that his clemency would end the grave national injustice felt by the American people over the previous four years. The Department of Justice spent years pursuing accountability for those who attacked the Capitol in Trump’s name, a pursuit many observers believed would not be fully resolved by clemency alone.”>
In many eyes, the clemency move also reads as an implicit exoneration of the president himself. The January 6 riot followed Trump urging his supporters to march on the Capitol to block certification of Joe Biden’s 2020 victory, a victory he continues to call a fraud. Had he not won reelection, he might have faced conviction for obstructing the peaceful transfer of power. This line of reasoning was echoed by special counsel Jack Smith, who, in his public briefing, argued there was enough evidence to convict. A path to conviction was effectively blocked by Trump’s victory, given the Constitution’s bar on indicting a sitting president. The larger point, many observers note, is that Trump was later convicted on 34 felony counts in the Manhattan hush-money case for falsifying business records to silence the adult-film actress Stormy Daniels, according to sources and coverage in major outlets. — The Washington Post
Freed the Leader of the Proud Boys
This time the former president issued full and unconditional pardons to everyone convicted in relation to the Capitol attack, including more than 300 people still imprisoned for actions that day. Fourteen others had their sentences reduced, among them the leaders of the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers, two of the most active far-right groups surrounding the events of January 6. Enrique Tarrio, the Proud Boys leader, who had been sentenced to 22 years, and Stewart Rhodes, the head of the Oath Keepers, serving 18 years for sedition conspiracy, were released this week. These releases mark a dramatic turn in the ongoing legal reckoning that followed the assault.
Trump’s action followed a declaration he signed the day before and instructions to his attorney general to ensure that all prisoners were freed immediately. The cases include well-known figures who became symbols of the riot, such as Jacob Chansley, the so-called QAnon Shaman, whose dramatic appearance in the Capitol helped crystallize public memory of that day. Chansley had been sentenced to 41 months in prison for obstructing the official process to certify Biden’s victory, and his release adds another layer to a rapid political shift surrounding the clemency decisions.
A Boost for the Far Right
Within the Trump orbit, many believe the outgoing administration overstepped in pursuing accountability for the riot, yet public opinion polls show that a majority of Americans disagree with that assessment. What is clear is that the clemency move strengthens far-right currents and the movements supporting the Republican leader. Nicole Hemmer, director of the Center for the American Presidency at Vanderbilt University, told The Washington Post that by pardoning and commuting the sentences of those who took part in the January 6 insurrection, Trump legitimized the riot and signaled that violence in its defense would carry little consequence. She also noted that the measures highlight certain authoritarian tendencies in the new administration. — The Washington Post